Will Rogers on Politics: 10 Withering, Hilarious Quotes

Will Rogers, born November 4, 1879, in Oologah (near Claremore), Indian Territory—the region later known as Oklahoma.

Rogers, who had Cherokee ancestry on both sides of his family, became one of the most famous humorists in American history, and served as the witty conscience to the times in which he lived. Funny thing is (well, there were a lot of funny things) that a good deal of Rogers' observations and theories hold true today, nearlu 80 years after his death on August 15, 1935. Politics was one of Rogers' specialties; his plain-folks diction revealing truths that cut deeper than high-minded analysis. Here are two handfuls of Rogers ruminations that everyone in government, Republican or Democrat, ought to review:

Will Rogers on Politics

1.The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, "How is the president?"

2.Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

3.I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

4.I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

5.Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.

6.Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.

7.About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

8.A fool and his money are soon elected.

9.The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.

10.This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.